What's the Highest Temperature Ever Recorded in the U.S.?

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This summer has been a scorcher in many parts of the nation, but
this sweat-inducing heat has nothing on the highest temperature
ever recorded in the United States, the whopping 134 degrees
Fahrenheit that sent the mercury soaring in Death Valley on July
10, 1913.

Death Valley, as its name suggests, is famous as the hottest,
driest, lowest place in North America. Average highs in the
summer months in these barren salt flats regularly hit above 100
degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). The greatest number of
consecutive days with a maximum temperature of 100 F or above was
154 days in the summer of 2001, according to the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS). The summer of 1996 had 40 days over 120 F, and 105
days over 110 F, making it the hottest summer on record.

The valley's low elevation at 282 feet (86 meters) below sea
level and its long, narrow shape help influence its scorching
summer temperatures. Dry, cloudless air and sparse vegetation
allow the sun to seriously heat up the valley floor.

The heat that comes off the rocks and dirt is then driven back
down by the high walls of the valley. As it descends, this
only-slightly-cooler air heats up again. This super-heated air
blows through the valley, fueling the extreme
temperatures, according to the USGS.

In 1911, the first permanent weather station was established at
what is now Furnace Creek Ranch. On July 10, 1913, the weather
station measured a record high of 134 F (57 C), a temperature
that has not been beat anywhere in the United States since.
[Related:
The Harshest Environments on Earth ]

That temperature has, however, been beat elsewhere in the world.

On Sept. 13, 1922, an astoundingly high temperature of 136 F (58
C) was recorded in El Azizia, Libya (also spelled Al 'Aziziyah).
This record remains controversial, though.

This temperature was considerably higher than in nearby towns, as
was noticed by meteorologists several years later, according to
Weather Underground's Wunder Blog. One problem with the
reading was that the thermometer was "self-registering," implying
that no human confirmed the temperature reading. Another was that
the thermometer was placed very close to the surface, which was
covered with tarred concrete, which could have absorbed the sun's
rays and artificially inflated the temperature reading.

The World Meteorological Organization notes the work of Italian
scientists who calculated that the temperature probably should
have been 132.8 F (56 C). If this were the case, the Death Valley
temperature would be the highest ever recorded.